Automated engraving of a customized jewelry item

Abstract

A method for manufacturing a ring (i.e. class, championship, or affiliation) begins by receiving order data specifying a series of personalization elements, such as the addition of text and icon designs. A geometric model for each personalization item is constructed. To assemble text panels, the operating system provides font geometry for a desired TrueType font. Then a set of splines are created from the font geometry and are then tessellated to generate polyline sets of data, which are then spaced and mapped between two boundary curves. The personalization elements are then projected onto one of the model's 3D surfaces. A set of machining instructions for a milling machine is generated by obtaining a set of machining pattern strategies, generating a set of curves, projecting the toolpath onto the surface of the ring to calculate the 3D toolpath, and rotating it to a desired angle.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) [0001] This application is a continuation of and claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 315,475 filed Dec. 10, 2002, entitled “Automated Engraving of a Customized Jewelry Item”, the content of which is incorporated herein in their entirety for all purposes.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] The process of the present invention relates to the manufacture of personalized items such as jewelry. More particularly, the process of the present invention relates to an automated system that receives custom orders for personalized rings (i.e., class, championship, and affiliation) and generates the machining instructions that enable a milling machine to create the personalized ring from a wax blank. [0003] Class rings have been a popular keepsake among students for generations. Originally, they were relatively uniform and provided students little opportunity to express themselves. Over time, automated manufactur...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0007] The present invention provides a cost effective solution to the problems discussed above. One aspect of the present invention is directed toward reducing the amount of precious metal lost to scrap. As opposed to personalizing jewelry by machining personalized features directly into the precious metal, work is performed, using CAD / CAM, onto a wax blank. The finished wax replica is then used to produce a mold, into which precious metal is poured to produce the desired product.

[0008] Using wax in this manner provides numerous advantages over direct machining. First, wax is much softer than metal. Thus, the need for expensive cutting tools is minimized and the tool life of the cutting tools that are needed is greatly extended. Additionally, smaller, more delicate tools can be used to achieve more intricate artwork than possible using beefier, metal-cutting tools.

[0009] The increased level of detail allowed by working with wax facilitates an increased offering of choices to jewelry customers. For example, previous personalization options included individualized alphanumeric features such as names or class years. In previous systems, to support personalized rings having students' names, an insert was machined for each name. Thus, when a student named “Mike” ordered a ring with his name on it, the Mike-insert was retrieved and used to cast the ring. Whenever an order included a new name, a new insert would be created. In recent years, more and more parents have adopted unique names for their children. This has resulted in the need for the creation and storage of many more name inserts. In the present invention, by using wax, more precisely defined tapered cutting tools and TrueType typography technology (available from AGFA-Monotype), students can choose to have their name (whether the common or uncommon) engraved in any of a multitude of digital fonts. The present invention also provides a higher level of definition, which allows more alphanumeric characters to be engraved on a ring than was previously available.

[0010] Another advantage of wax is that it is very inexpensive. Using wax not only eliminates much of the scrap metal produced by direct machining of jewelry, if ordering errors or manufacturing errors arise in the wax product, no precious metal is lost due to the error.

[0011] Another aspect of the present invention is an automated toolpath-generating program for use in milling the customized ring's wax model. The computer system of the present invention creates a geometric model, from which machining instructions are automatically generated and temporarily stored for each text or icon panel for the ring. These machining instructions support both tapered and cylindrical cutter tools as defined by the APT-7 cutting tool geometry model. Once created, the machining instructions are fed directly to a CNC milling machine that creates the wax model. Thus, the CAD / CAM operator is eliminated from the process, thereby greatly increasing production volume and decreasing production costs.

Problems solved by technology

First, wax is much softer than metal.

Additionally, smaller, more delicate tools can be used to achieve more intricate artwork than possible using beefier, metal-cutting tools.

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